Chapter 2

2

T he following morning, Candace pulled open her blinds to see a white blanket covering the parking lot. She expected as much. What she didn’t expect was to see several feet of snow piled on top of each car. Even her car had what looked to be a few extra feet of fresh powder on top.

Candace clicked on the news to see that the snow would continue to fall for the remainder of the day.

If they were going to be stuck in a town, at least it was a town with a ski resort. She pressed her thumbs to her eyes.

Jessica would be crushed. None of their guests were going to make the drive in these conditions.

A knock on her door had her padding across the floor in only her nightgown. She threw it open without looking through the peephole.

“Ugh. I’m sorry. Come here.” She opened her arms, expecting Jessica to fall into them, but quickly took a step back when Brent took a step toward her with his arms open.

Candace frowned. “Um, what are you doing?”

“You wanted to give me a hug.” His eyes strayed down to her chest before snapping back up to her face, and she was suddenly conscious of the fact that her spaghetti strap nightgown was on the thin side, and her room was cold .

She didn’t have to look to know her nipples were in tight buds, leaving little to the imagination in the scrap of fabric.

Her face reddened. She stepped back into her room and grabbed a complimentary robe out of the closet, pulled it on, and tied it around her waist. Then she turned around to face him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“Can I help you?”

He glanced at the robe, and she only responded by hugging herself tighter.

“I just came to see if you wanted to join us for breakfast.”

She opened her mouth to respond, but Brent continued. “My mom sent me over to ask.”

She suspected he added that last part, so she wouldn’t immediately shoot him down. Jan was like her second mom, and she wanted to spend as much time with them as possible while they were there. Plus, Jessica and Travis would likely be there, and then they could all discuss the wedding as a group.

“How long do I have?”

Brent glanced down the hall. “Only a few minutes. But I can let them know you’re coming, and we’ll just wait for you at the restaurant.”

Again with the niceties.

“Okay. Thank you,” she said, cautiously.

He nodded before walking away.

When Candace walked into the resort restaurant where they had dinner the night before, she spotted their group immediately. She made her way over to them and gave a small wave.

“Good morning, everyone.”

“Good morning, sweetheart! Did you sleep well?” Jan asked.

Brent stood up and pulled out the only available chair which was between him and Jessica. Candace eyeballed it and then looked at him where he stood with an enormous smile. She pressed her lips into a thin line before stepping over to the chair and taking a seat as Brent pushed it in for her.

“Thanks,” she said. “I slept well, thank you.”

“That’s good to hear. Pick out whatever you’d like to eat. We’re buying this morning,” Rick said.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“We insist.”

Candace gave him an appreciative smile before looking over the menu. The restaurant was on the more expensive side and since the roads were treacherous, their options were limited. When the server arrived, they placed their orders.

Candace grabbed hold of Jessica’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “How are you doing?”

“I’m okay. I’m a little disappointed if I’m being honest.”

“It’s okay to be upset, honey,” Jan said.

“We got word this morning that the roads are completely closed now. Several trees came down and blocked the main road. They don’t know when they’ll get it cleared again,” Rick said. “You’re lucky you could make it. I think they closed it down shortly after you got here.”

Candace wasn’t surprised to hear that. She had wondered if she was completely insane while driving there, and knew if it wasn’t for her sister’s wedding, she would have turned around and gone back home long before she even made it halfway there.

“We’ll just postpone the wedding and have it after the roads clear,” Travis said.

Jessica gave him a small smile, but the disappointment was clear on her face. She knew Jessica wanted nothing more than to get married to her man right then.

Candace looked around the table. Travis’s entire immediate family sat at the table with them. She and Jessica only had each other, so that included their entire family.

“Jess, why don’t you still get married? I mean, you have everyone who’s important right here.” Jessica looked around at everyone at the table. “If you really want to have a big reception like planned, you could do that after the snow melts and the roads clear. You could even wait until this summer.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Travis said.

“Yeah. I guess that would be fun,” Jessica said.

Candace sensed the hesitation in Jessica’s voice. “You don’t have to. I’m only mentioning it because you’re bummed that everything is canceled. This way, you can still marry Travis on time. We can get some gorgeous photos of you two with a snowy backdrop. It just means the rest of it is postponed a little, but it doesn’t mean it can’t be magical.”

Jessica looked over at Travis. “What do you want?”

“I want what you want. I’m excited to marry you, so it’ll be a little bit of a bummer if we postpone it. But if it’s important to you to have the ceremony you’ve always dreamed of, then I am more than happy to wait.” He took her hand. “I just want you to be happy.”

Jessica looked back at everyone, and a smile split her lips. “Let’s do it!”

Travis pressed a kiss to Jessica’s cheek.

Candace did a small dance in her seat and clapped her hands together twice. “Yay! I’m excited!”

“Oh, I’m so happy!” Jan said. “I think it’ll be so much fun! I’m so happy for you two!”

“Did anyone else make it up the mountain?” Brent asked.

Travis shrugged. “A few friends from school had come up a few days ago to spend some time skiing, so they’re up here. I think a few of mom’s cousins made it as well.”

Jan nodded. “A few people made it, so they can all still attend as planned. If you still want to do the reception to feed everyone who attends, we should discuss it with the catering staff to see about reducing the plate numbers.”

“You could still have a small reception up here with the guests who made it, and then have a larger one later with everyone else. It could be fun to celebrate twice,” Rick said. “And everyone will understand.”

“There’s so much to think about.” Jessica sighed.

Candace squeezed Jessica’s fingers. “I’ll help you out. We’ll get it all taken care of and figured out before the end of the night.”

“Thank you.”

“Anything for my baby sister.”